Kangaroo Mob Synopsis

Over one year we follow mob leader Black Spot and kangaroo mum Madge with her two young joeys – mischievous Sonny and tiny pouch bound Alice.

After 15 years of drought, Canberra’s Eastern Grey Kangaroos know that the parks and gardens of Australia’s “bush capital” provide a reliable supply of the juicy grass but learning to be a street-smart urban ‘roo is tough with the kangaroos negotiating busy roads and avoiding cars and dogs.

Inevitably their incursion into human habitat causes problems – damage to property and collisions with cars. It’s costing millions and thousands of animals are killed each year. The farmers complain that the ‘roos are eroding farmland and damaging their fences. The ACT Government holds an annual kangaroo cull to reduce animal numbers to “sustainable levels”.

Confrontations make international news as the situation arouses passions and polarizes opinion. Are the kangaroo’s pests that need to be eradicated or a protected national icon to be saved at all costs?

A small team of ecologists, including Don Fletcher and Claire Wimpenny, hope to provide some answers in a 12-month study, which uses GPS collars and satellite technology to track the kangaroos’ nocturnal movements.

Amidst the controversy that rages when people are forced to share their backyards with a large wild animal, the scientists discover surprising new behaviour. It appears that the ‘roos are learning to live with people much better than people are learning to live with the ‘roos.

Filmed over a year, KANGAROO MOB follows a few remarkable urban ‘roos to provide a warm and entertaining look at what happens when human development encroaches and two very different species are forced to co-exist.